Ruling military junta in Burkina Faso claims coup attempt foiled, as French newspaper suspended

OUAGADOUGOU – Burkina Faso’s military government says the country’s security and intelligence services foiled a coup attempt on Tuesday.

It’s almost a year since the military leader and now interim President, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, himself, seized power.

In a statement read on television, the junta said unnamed military officers and others had planned to destabilise Burkina Faso, reported the BBC.

They had “the dark intention of attacking the institutions of the republic and plunging our country in chaos”, the Reuters news agency quoted the statement as saying.

It said some arrests had been made, without giving specifics.

There have been recent reports of discontent within the military.

On Tuesday, rumours of a brewing mutiny led hundreds of people to take to the streets of the capital, Ouagadougou, in support of the junta.

On the same day, the authorities suspended the French-language news magazine Jeune Afrique, accusing it of publishing articles discrediting the armed forces.

The current government took power last September in what was the second coup in eight months.

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